What the heart wants and needs can be found in a Fabio Napoleoni painting.

Nostalgia, sorrow, and moments that lift the soul are all there for the world to see and experience along with him. The vivid colors and captivating characters invite you into an emotional ride that is welcomed by the mind and the heart. Simple landscapes set the stage to see the value of emotional attachment that can be compared to no other. Influences from some of this century’s greatest artists are hard to obviously find in his pieces, but are present deep in the fabric of what puts a Napoleoni painting together. While his paintings may be filled with vibrant color, cheerful characters, and what seems like a never-ending supply of hope and enthusiasm, his inspiration initially stemmed from a dark place.

“The birth of the inspiration came prior to the arrival of my second daughter in the spring of 2004. With my wife being only 20 weeks pregnant, the news that we were about to welcome a little girl into this world with heart abnormalities just shattered our [hearts],” he said. “Questioning faith and filled with anger, I found comfort in sketching my frustration towards life and the injustice I felt it had handed my little girl and family.”

When tragedy hits close to home one always questions why. Accepting that things like this happen without rhyme or reason was not easy for Napoleoni and his wife, but they were comforted knowing they were not at fault.

It was in the fall of 2004 during a lengthy hospital stay with his daughter Lauren that the creation of Marcenivo and friends took flight. Each scene that unfolded before Napoleoni made its way onto his canvas. Nurses, doctors, and staff all fed him with little nuances that were added to each character’s melancholy-like nature.

It took the traumatic experience of extended hospital stays and several surgeries on his daughter for him to realize what was missing in his work, and it was emotion. He had all the ingredients to create, but none that captivated the soul. Since Napoleoni’s first gallery show in 2009 until now, both he and his work have grown tremendously.

The first seven years of life were very tough on Lauren, but there is a beauty to modern medicine, and a sainthood status earned by those who work with ill children and devote a great portion of their lives to bettering the lives of those children.

“As life for our little one gradually got easier, the artwork became increasingly hopeful and saturated with love,” he said. “Positivity and compassion became the focal point.” A large part of the current driving force behind Napoleoni’s art are his collectors; those who stand in line for hours and those who travel great distances just to share why they purchased the work, and the die-hard collectors who have tattooed his work on their bodies and not just one or two, but full murals running down an arm. It is a commitment and a massive honor to Napoleoni as an artist. Being easily accessible has given his collectors the ability to send him some of the most beautiful messages and heart warming stories he has had the pleasure of reading.

“I’m grateful for every smile given, every hand shaken, and every friend I have made in my travels. Each one is unique and with an inspiring story,” he said. “Thank you for caring, sharing, and inspiring.”

Napoleoni will be presenting a new body of work at EC Gallery Beverly Hills April 22- 23, unveiling unseen pieces for his collectors. Contact your fine art consultant to RSVP for this event not-to-be missed.

Bob Doucette, an artist who grew up by the sea in his home state of Maine, heads back to the waves April 15-17 at his EC Gallery Seaport Village show “Undertow: I Hear The Sirens Song.”

Doucette’s work and theme will aim to show anyone viewing his art that he indeed still feels the Atlantic tide of his home. Jellyfish, water plants, Krakens, and leviathans are promised to be seen in the seaport waters, but another influence and a familiar signature to his work will be there too—girls whose eyes you get lost in. Sirens to be exact, known from Greek mythology where they would lure sailors to their watery death using song. As ghastly as a scene like this is, it is pure beauty when you look at any of Doucette’s doe-eyed women. “For me, when I start painting, I am very much a face person,” he said. “So when I do something that is a face I have to communicate with it on a very basic level. I need an emotional response to it. I have to paint the face first and if the eyes don’t speak to me, don’t have some kind of emotion to me, it goes dead to me.” When Doucette is not painting creatures only Jacques Cousteau has lived to see, he is an artistic polymath, if there ever was one.

From the time that he was a knee-high kid taking lessons from his father, he believed himself to be an artist. When adults around his hometown would ask him if he always wished to be an artist when he grew up, Bob would always look up from his scratch paper to declare, “I am an artist!” When he was not reading Charles Addams comics and watching Chuck Jones cartoons, Doucette went on to achieve an impressive list of roles: lead animator, storyboard artist, and sculptor. While all
these are great accomplishments, they pale in comparison to the message of his work—the weight of dreams.

Armed with a dream journal he keeps on his nightstand, he is more often than not on a chase for them. All artists chase dreams, and dreams chase artists day and night. They hope that in meeting it will spawn works which complement the best of this world and the dream, and if by the greatest of luck or by some miracle, they will be able to create an entirely new world. Doucette has fulfilled this feat and what he introduces to our world of restraint is Toboland.

He creates a place as accessible as any dream is, where visitors are reminded of hopes and highs of a past they were not born into, the iconography Doucette adores—Darby’s and Top hats, smoking pipes, cars you had to wind up to drive. All of this summons nostalgia in his collectors and has them thinking, “I remember that too!” Memories are stirred up when it is Magoo they pass on the streets yelling for a cab. The influences that walk in Toboland remind you that it is Doucette’s world, a comical observation, an insight into how Doucette sees things. It is a funny place made of dreams, color, and childhood cartoons. Our world, while different, is not too far from it. Stop by EC Gallery Seaport Village April 15-17 for your one-way ticket to Toboland and venture for yourself.

In support of February Heart Month, EC Gallery has partnered with Go Red For Women San Diego. Go Red For Women is the American Heart Association’s national movement to end heart disease and stroke in women. Throughout the month of February, EC Gallery will be supporting the San Diego Go Red for Women with Bella Hearts.

Eight-year-old Isabella (Bella) Thorn has been painting since she was old enough to first hold a brush at 16 months. To date, Isabella has created more than 400 Bella Hearts, showing that even the smallest among us can have a huge impact. Each Bella Heart is an original creation made by hand by Isabella. She has collectors all over the globe and her work can be seen in galleries in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Breckenridge, Colorado.

Bella will have a show at EC Gallery Seaport Village on January 30, which will serve as the kick-off for the San Diego Chapter of the American Cancer Society’s Go Red For Women. In addition, EC Gallery will be donating a large painting of Bella Hearts to the San Diego Go Red campaign as an additional way to support the mission and cause.

Heart disease and stroke affect women of all ethnicities; mothers, daughters, sisters and friends are all at risk. An estimated 44 million women in the U.S. are affected by cardiovascular diseases. In fact, 1 in 3 deaths among women each year are caused by heart disease and stroke – more than all cancers combined.

Fortunately, 80 percent of cardiac and stroke events may be prevented with education and action embracing a healthy lifestyle. Go Red For Women inspires women to make lifestyle changes, mobilize communities and shape policies to save lives and improve the health of all women.

Twenty-five years have passed since Dr. Seuss’s last book Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was published in 1990. In honor of this milestone, a special exhibition has been mounted to artistically highlight the scores of places and eras Dr. Seuss has taken us with his incomparable collection of artwork. Throughout a lifelong adventure into “logical insanity,” Theodore Geisel transported viewers through an astonishing visual journey they never dreamed possible.

In his final book, Ted gathered his favorite unpublished sketches, pinned them up on the cork walls of his studio, and then set about finding a way to make them connect. The result was the most powerful graphic work he had done in many years.

To celebrate the milestone and his great body of work, an exclusive Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Portfolio was unveiled to the public at the San Diego History Center Museum in April 2015. This was significant as the Geisel’s resided in San Diego, Calif., where Mrs. Audrey Geisel lives to this day in the city of La Jolla. Though the 25th anniversary of his last book was held last year in 2015, the show’s immense popularity and demand has it booked through 2016 at the new EC Gallery in Breckenridge, Colorado from January 15 through January 31, 2016.

Keeping the theme of February being the month of love, the Oh, the Places You’ll Go! show will then move to EC Gallery Beverly Hills where we will celebrate For the Love of Seuss. From February 12-28, 2016 art enthusiasts and fans of Dr. Seuss will be able to enjoy and celebrate this lovely body of work. Both shows are geared toward children, adults and collectors of all ages that love the work of Dr. Seuss.

As the featured centerpiece of the exhibition, this limited edition portfolio takes visitors behind the scenes to experience the Dr. Seuss archives in a way they never could before. Nine expertly crafted works, adapted from Dr. Seuss’s original concept drawings for Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, are presented within a specially made collector’s edition case, which includes an introductory letter from Mrs. Audrey Geisel, a rare photograph of Ted in his studio with images from the project, and excerpts from his original manuscript. Join us in Colorado or Los Angeles and be one of the first to view and/or acquire this grand collection of artwork.

In an accompanying letter to the Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Portfolio Mrs. Audrey Geisel wrote:

“He was taking everything he knew and putting it into the life-voyage of this particular little boy. Ted is indeed the boy in the pajamas in Oh, the Places You’ll Go! This portfolio, published on the 25th anniversary of Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is the capstone of his enduring legacy.”

Like other great Spanish artists before him, Royo is a true master of his craft. Hailing from Valencia, Spain’s third largest city located on the banks of the Turia River, Royo’s homeland and heritage have greatly affected him and his creative work. “I am, first and foremost, an artist,” he said. “My heritage deeply affects all of my work. I live and work in Spain, under Spanish sun and under the influence of Spanish light. My models are from my homeland, and I paint them posing in our home.”

Royo’s artistic inspiration is derived from a host of artists that have come before him, including Spanish masters Velasquez, Ribera, Goya, and Sorolla. “I have been moved by so many [artists] that it would be impossible to name them all,” he said. “I often say that the blood of the great Masters is in my veins and I am just a culmination of all who have proceeded me. [Though] Sorolla is a special muse. He is from my home of Valencia.”

It is easy to understand why Royo cites Sorolla as being influential to his own work. While much of the darker themes and imagery in Goya and Ribera’s art is absent in Royo’s paintings, the vibrant use of color — and especially the exploration of feminine beauty — is echoed in the work of both Sorolla and Royo.

“I am fascinated by the feminine form and mystique,” he said. “This is not a subject of interest unique to me. Artists throughout history have depicted the beauty and essence of women.”

In this upcoming show entitled Recital, Royo explores the essence of this mystique in detail, further elaborating on themes he has used in the past in other bodies of work. “Recital is intended to be retrospective,” he explained. “It’s a re-visiting of some of the themes I have explored through my painting career.”

Royo’s mastery over his craft expands with each passing year, making every new painting a time capsule of his skill.

“In this collection, I may have revisited a particular theme or interest, but I am approaching it with a different vision, angle, and understanding than when I may have visited that subject in previous years. So this has been a work of love and joy.”

Daniel Merriam captures the imagination with a body of work that displays fantastical imagery. Reminiscent of the work of artists such as Maxwell

Parrish, Merriam’s art uses a masterful command of color combined with intricate and complex designs to produce astounding works that seem to pull you directly into a world of dreamy magic.

Originally trained as a mechanical architect, Merriam had his first solo exhibit in 1987 at Abacus Gallery in Maine. Since then, he has gone on to receive honors such as the Broderson Award and illustrate book covers for authors such as Paula Volsky and Neal Barrett, Jr.

Though Merriam’s past work has earned him some well- deserved success, he is taking a slightly different approach to the collection to be displayed at Exclusive Collections Gallery in October. “I’m working on a series of drawings that take a little more political risk than what my recent fans are familiar with,” Merriam explained. “They are less whimsical than most of my work, and have allowed me to explore a more real world without a strict cognitive boundary.”

Pushing boundaries is something Merriam is familiar with, as he breaks away from strict realism in his creative work. “In the 80s, if you dared to paint representational work other than hyper-realism, you were in effect a real rebel.”

It was the progressive work by artist Andrew Wyeth that helped Merriam discover that he could create art in the style of magical realism and still be considered a serious artist. “It was [Wyeth’s] work that inspired me to assert figurative painting as viable in the realm of high art.”

Merriam’s enchanting work is not a collection to be missed. His paintings will be on display at EC Gallery Seaport Village, October 16 – 18. Come experience the magic for yourself!

Most collectors begin their art adventure collecting paintings. Once they have been bitten by the joy of collecting, they begin looking at other forms of art, including bronze sculpture. For those considering a bronze work, it is important to know what to look for in terms of both quality and the kind of prices you can expect to pay.

Fine bronze sculptures require a great deal of artistic skill and are highly prized by collectors and museums around the world. They display beautifully in any living environment or garden. The strength and durability of bronze means it resists the elements extremely well. Bronze also has the ability to capture fine sculptural details, much better than rougher materials such as stone.

The ancient Greeks were the first to create statues in bronze, and the recipe for the metal has changed little into modern times. It is typically 90 percent copper and 10 percent tin. In spite of the durability of bronze, most of the ancient works have not survived; because of the great strength, bronze statues were often melted down to make weapons during periods of war.

The process of creating bronze sculptures is extremely time-consuming and demands years of training. The method of casting is known as “lost-wax.” The original sculpture is created using wax or clay and the center is filled with wax to increase the strength of the mold. After the wax hardens, the cast is covered in a ceramic solution and sand. This toughens it further, after which the wax on the inside is melted away.

Once the mold dries, it is ready for the bronze, which is poured inside the cast. When the bronze hardens, the cast is shattered and discarded. Finally, the sculptor adds a patina which involves the application of chemicals that react with the metal. The artist heats the surface with a blowtorch to create the color and tones desired.